Monday, 29 April 2013

Presents For Sally - Anything Anymore

Single review by kev@thesoundofconfusion.co.uk

Listening to this new single from Presents For Sally is like being momentarily transported back to a time when the word "indie" actually still had a meaning. This is prime material for those pioneering labels of the 1980s to have picked up on had it been recorded then. This single represents their first material since the fledgling band released a debut album in 2010, only a year after forming in southern England. Plans are afoot for a second album sometime later this year, so I guess these two tracks are the first indication of where the band are currently at.

You could say this 7" (it's available for digitally too) is what would have been your archetypal single. B-side 'A Thousand Ways To Say Goodbye' is a good enough track; a little noisy, a little melodic and sure to be a hit with fans of bands' less commercial material. It's what would have been a typical B-side back in the day. And following suit, 'Anything Anymore' is typical A-side material; it's flipping ace. There's more melody, there's a lo-fi sound and a retro guitar-pop feel but it's full of hooks, almost barbed so that it gets inside your head and stays there. This blend of shoegaze, indiepop and classic alternative guitar sounds is, purely and simply, a delight.